


The Greater Prominence

by DoctorTortoise



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Mostly Gen, Mystery crossover, Science Fiction, oc-insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24708259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorTortoise/pseuds/DoctorTortoise
Summary: Mountaineers lead their lives striving to conquer the world's highest peaks. Thrust into a new world, where the peaks seem insurmountable, Nico can't help but relish in the challenge.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	The Greater Prominence

**Author's Note:**

> I live for reviews

#  **Displacement**

His limbs burned, his head spun, and his lungs ached, desperately straining to pull in more oxygen than available. Nonetheless, Nico strained for the next handhold on the frozen mountainside.

His eyes remained fixed on the rock directly in front of his hands, and just barely kept him from sliding down the sheer face of the mountain. He continued on his journey, bordering on deliriousness, for what felt like hours.

He pulled himself up, and his view suddenly shifted from icy rock to a clear, blue sky. For a moment, Nico couldn't believe his eyes. A surge of triumphant excitement briefly wiped away his exhaustion, and he scrambled up to the summit of the massive mountain.

His hands scrambled for the electronic device at his waist as he dropped to his knees on the mountaintop.

' _7,452 meters'_ he read from the altimeter.

He let out a small chuckle, which grew into a large round of hysterical laughter, as he took in the wondrous views from his surroundings.

At thirteen, Niccolo Moretti had tied the record for the youngest person to climb Everest. At sixteen, he had become the youngest to climb K2. Now, at just nineteen, he had become the first person in history to climb Muchu Chhish: the greatest unconquered peak in the world.

* * *

Nico sat back on the mountain's summit for some time, taking in the magnitude of his accomplishment, before pulling out his camera to snap a few pictures; he had to record this momentous occasion.

The mountains had always called to him; the higher the peak, the more dangerous the climb, the greater the call. He pulled out a meal replacement bar and sat back to admire the view.

As he continued to appreciate the scenery, a small shiny object in the snow caught his eye. Frowning in confusion, he crawled over to inspect the strange object. As he drew closer, he noticed it's sheen; it seemed almost metallic under the harsh sunlight.

Brushing off the snow, he noticed it wasn't just a rock or a stone. He gazed at the artifact in shock, it looked like some sort of beetle beautifully sculpted from a mixture of metal and ceramic. The beetle was an ivory white, making it hard to believe that he had noticed it amidst the snow in his semi-delirious state.

Nico was most astonished by the fact that it even existed in the first place. As far as he knew, no human had ever climbed Muchu Chhish in recorded history, and there was no way that some ancient tribe of mountain-dwellers had the technology to make something like this.

He picked up the bizarre bug and brought it up to his face.

The sun glinted off its surface harshly, but after a few moments, he realized that the light wasn't from the sun at all. The beetle was glowing, and before he could react it let out a blinding flash. Nico fell to the ground, unconscious.

* * *

Nico didn't know how long it took, but when he woke up, he came to in a flurry of panic. He looked down at his wrist in trepidation.

' _00:32:16'_ read his timer, ticking down steadily. He scrambled up off the ground, and realized that the strange beetle statue was nowhere to be found.

' _Shit! I'm gonna fucking die because of a hallucination,'_ Nico cursed mentally. If he really gunned it, he could make it to a safe altitude within four hours, but thirty minutes was absurd.

He reached back and dialed down the knob on his oxygen tanks. He would have to make do with as little as possible to stretch out his supply.

Nico turned to look down the mountain. He had come up from the North face, which offered a far more gradual, rocky surface. The South face was a smooth, sheer, cliff, plagued by avalanches. It offered little in the way of handholds, but for repelling down, it would probably be a much quicker option.

He wanted to properly weight out his options, but he simply didn't have the time.

Nico got to work, setting a pair of anchors in the most solid chunk of ice on the summit. Luckily, he had brought along numerous additional ice screws, meaning he had enough for a completely different path of descent.

Within just a few minutes, he was rappelling down the sheer South face of Muchu Chhish. He kept a steady pace; if he descended too quickly he could pull out the anchors. Still, it took him only a minute to reach the end of his rope. He could only drop fifty meters at a time before he had to switch anchors. He felt around on the ice to ensure it was solid enough for an ice screw.

The ice was fairly clear, and rock hard, but the direct sunlight had him worried. There was always a risk that the sun would melt out his screws, leaving him in freefall, but sunset was rapidly approaching. In an hour or so, he wouldn't have any worries, but he didn't have the time, so he got to work.

His first few changeovers went smoothly; he was able to find good ice and his screws went in smoothly. His seventh switch left him a little unsure.

The ice at his level was brittle, and it crumbled under his gloves with a middling application of force. He grimaced as he felt around for a stronger patch, but even after pulling himself up a few feet, he couldn't find anything better.

He sighed in defeat, and started screwing into the ice. He used four anchors this time, just in case. He only needed two more changeovers before he could climb down without a rope, and he still had plenty of screws remaining, so there was no need to be stingy.

Slowly, he started to ease himself down the cliff face, making sure not to shock the rope. Just as he crossed the twenty-meter mark on his lead, he heard a crack.

A knot formed in the pit of his stomach, and he scrambled for an ice screw, hoping to set a new anchor nearby. Unfortunately, it was too light.

Three more loud cracks came from the ice above, and Nico found himself in freefall.

He screamed as he plummeted through the air, and his body flipped, allowing him to see the ground grow closer.

He clenched his eyes shut; this was the end.

As he approached the ground, his senses adapted to the wind until he could barely feel it on his skin. He found it odd, how he barely even felt like he was falling.

A series of loud 'whooshing' sounds passed by his ear, and his eyes flew open, as he realized something was wrong.

His jaw dropped in shock. He was suspended in the air, just a handful of meters from the ground, without anything holding him in place.

He slowly turned to look up, in hopes of understanding his situation, and to his surprise, his body moved up into a standing position.

The absurdity of his situation became overwhelming, and Nico yearned for solid ground. His body somehow reacted to his desires, and he slowly started to descend.

By the time he reached solid ground, the combination of shock and oxygen deprivation had left Nico hyperventilating. He dropped to his knees and scrambled for the knob on his oxygen tanks.

He took in large gulps of air, and desperately tried to slow his breaths down.

After several minutes, he was finally able to regain control. Nico's mind flashed back to the strange white beetle on the mountain's summit.

' _Did that… somehow...what on Earth?'_

His mind raced in hopes of finding an explanation for what just happened.

"I can fly," he whispered, not really believing his own words.

Nico stood up and tried to call back that feeling of floating in the air. To his surprise, it worked perfectly, and he smoothly rose up to levitate a foot from the ground.

He dropped back down and broke out into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. He looked back up at the peak of the mountain, and he flung himself into the air, rocketing up to his previous location.

He laughed again at the absurdity of the situation, coming to a hover right beside the mountaintop.

' _I'm still up here hallucinating, aren't I?'_ he mentally remarked.

He gazed over the north face of the mountain, and flew down, following a path that had once taken hours to traverse. He heard a beep from his altimeter, as he crossed the thirty-five-hundred meter mark, and he yanked off his oxygen mask to feel the fresh air.

The icy winds stung as they hit his face; yet, he wasn't all that bothered.

' _Of course. Who gets frostbite in a dream?'_

He stopped after a few minutes, hovering over the Batura Glacier to the north of Muchu Chhish. Glaciers were natural minefields, filled with crevasses that lay hidden under snow, but now he could glide over effortlessly.

He dropped to the ground as the river of ice ended, looking out into the Hunza Valley. From here, it was a day's trek back to the village.

Nico started walking forward, but he wasn't particularly sure why he bothered. He was still fairly certain that this was all dreamt up by his oxygen-deprived brain, but he also didn't like the idea of just sitting down and dying.

As he walked, he started to think about how others would react to his passing. His parents probably wouldn't be all that bothered; his father, Antonio, might honestly be grateful that Nico wasn't around to serve as another 'distraction' from the Antonio's hedge fund, and his mother, Lisa, would just squeeze another bottle of wine and tablet of Ambien into her day to dull what little grief she might feel.

His friends would presumably just be bummed to lose access to his dad's West Village penthouse, but would get over it as soon as they found another party spot. One of his flings might use his death as a source of pity, decreeing him her 'lost soulmate' or something ridiculous, and a few of his classmates might try to leverage his passing to get closer to his dad. He snorted in amusement as he imagined how that scenario would play out.

As night started to fall around him, Nico started considering those who might truly grieve for him. Damian Wilkinson was the first man he thought of. Damian had been his boxing coach for over a decade now; on Nico's eighth birthday, he had told his dad that he wanted to learn how to box. Naturally, Antonio had one of his 'people' track down a former Olympic trainer; the man may have been an absent father, but he threw money at Nico in place of time.

Under Damian's tutelage, Nico had come to see martial arts as his greatest passion in life, until he had discovered mountaineering. At ten years of age, Nico had joined Damian on a backpacking trip, and the boy's life had forever been changed. As a former Olympic trainer, Damian had a keen eye for talent and passion, and when it came to getting up mountains Nico had both in spades.

The trainer had helped ready him for his first expeditions, and three years later Damian joined Nico on his climb to the top of Everest. That was where Nico met the second man who would surely miss him: Temba Sherpa. Temba had been their guide during his first climb of Everest, and had left Nico in awe of the Tibetan man's incredible mountaineering abilities.

In the coming years, Nico would take at least two trips up Everest each summer, hiking alongside the Tibetan mountain guide. Nico slowly learned the Sherpa language, and the two spent a great deal of time discussing philosophy and spirituality. Damian would be shattered by Nico's death, but Temba would probably be alright. The Sherpa people had a very healthy respect for the dangers the mountains provided and understood that deaths were only natural among those who climbed to their peaks.

Damian, though, wouldn't accept his passing anywhere near as readily. Nico only hoped that the man wouldn't try to recover his body. His trainer was in shape, but he wasn't the kind of person who could make it up Muchu Chhish.

Nico continued to reminisce for several hours, deep into the night, until the rocks and ice gave way for fields of grass. He shrugged off his backpack and flopped back onto the grass, relaxing with his hands behind his head.

Nico looked up at the stars and gave a deep, relaxed sigh.

' _I suppose this isn't the worst way to go.'_

* * *

"Stop that," Nico said, flinching back, and waving his hand in front of his face. "Hunter?" he asked, wondering why his ex-girlfriend's dog would be waking him up.

As he blinked his eyes open, he realized that the black and white-splotched mass of fur wasn't actually a border collie. It was a goat.

" _Mehehehehe_ " it bleated loudly into his face. He stared back at the creature in surprise.

Nico scrambled to his feet and examined his surroundings. He was in the valley at the base of the Batura Glacier, just a few miles west of the nearby village.

' _Did I make it down the mountain while hallucinating, and pass out here?'_ he wondered, trying to find an explanation for his flight. He thought back to the exhilarating feeling of soaring through the skies, and decided to humor himself for just a moment.

Nico willed himself off the ground. Despite it being exactly what he intended, he couldn't help but yelp in surprise when he rose up off the ground.

' _Hooooly shit,'_ he thought to himself.

' _Either I'm still hallucinating, hours later, or this is all real. I'm somehow alive, and I can fly,'_ he pondered.

Ultimately, there wasn't anything he could do but roll with the punches, so he grabbed his backpack from the ground and started walking towards the village.

Nico briefly considered flying over, but he knew his superhero movies well; if he had superpowers, then others probably did too, and there was surely some sort of 'shadowy,' ruthless organization keeping track of them. It was best to lay low until he had some time to figure things out.

* * *

Nico arrived back at Passu Village in just an hour. His cardio had already been excellent, but on the walk back he found that, no matter how quickly he walked, he didn't tire. Walking six miles in an hour wasn't too exceptional a pace, but doing the same with eighty pounds on his back was a different story.

Nico added that to the 'will worry about later' list, and made for his destination, the Sarai Silk Route hotel. It wasn't exactly five-star luxury, but it was the best in the village, and it was the least he could do for the man guiding him through this country.

As he made for the hotel, Nico noted the lack of familiar faces in the village. Before his expedition, he'd spend a few nights in the village and had gotten to know the locals over a few evenings of merriment. He found it strange that despite having met almost half of the small village's residents, not a single one seemed familiar.

Eventually, he arrived at the hotel to find yet another unfamiliar face.

" _Salaam,_ " he greeted in heavily accented Urdu.

" _Asalaam-Alaikum,_ " greeted the concierge, "Would you prefer English?" he asked.

Nico sighed in relief. He had learned a decent bit of Urdu for his trip, but he was nowhere near proficient.

"Yes please, thank you," Nico responded. The concierge nodded spiritedly and smiled.

"How can I be helping you, sir?" he asked. The man clearly wasn't too familiar with English, but his accent was still miles better than Nico's when speaking Urdu.

"I was hoping to find Raja Khan, he should be in room seven," I explained. The concierge nodded deeply again, and picked up the old phone at his desk.

"Yes sir, very good sir, I will give a call, one moment sir," he offered.

A few seconds later, the line connected, and Nico heard a rapid exchange of a language that seemed similar to Urdu; Wakhi, if he recalled correctly, was the native language of the valley.

The concierge set down the phone after a short conversation, and gave me an apologetic smile.

"I am sorry, sir, there is no Raja Khan in that room," he explained.

"Huh," Nico said.

' _I could have sworn…_ ' he thought, but the concierge cut in with an idea.

"One minute, sir, I will be checking the book for you," he offered, pulling a binder out from under his counter. He flipped it open and started looking through the list of names on the last few pages, before looking up at him with the same expression as earlier.

"I am sorry again, sir," the concierge said, "there is no Raja Khan who has been here in the last few weeks."

"Are you sure?" Nico asked, disbelievingly.

' _Raja and I were here for three nights, just last week,'_ Nico thought. ' _Did he give me a fake name?'_ he wondered.

"Yes sir, very sure sir, sorry sir," the concierge apologized.

"It's not your fault," Nico said reflexively, falling into thought.

' _Maybe he just thought I would die like everyone else who tried the climb, and had someone else erase his information from the book in case I made it?'_ Nico speculated, but he knew his theory was shaky at best.

"Do you know how I can get on the bus to Gilgit?" Nico asked.

"Bus to Gilgit, sir?" the concierge clarified, and Nico nodded in affirmation.

"Certainly, sir. Do you see that road?" the concierge asked, pointing out of the window at his right. "You will have to follow that until you get to Karakoram Highway, sir, then you will turn right, and walk until you see the Village Restaurant, sir. The bus will stop just in front of there, sir," he explained.

' _Down the road, turn right at highway, village restaurant.'_

"Got it," Nico said after going through the directions in his head. As he spoke, he shrugged off his backpack and rummaged through for a large gallon Zip-Loc.

"Very good, sir. If you leave now, you can make it. The next bus leaves in ten minutes, sir," the concierge added.

"Thank you!" Nico offered gratefully, handing the other man four bills. The concierge took them with a smile and a deep nod of gratitude, but his expression changed as he looked down.

"Oh, I did not do this much, sir," he protested as he looked at the bills.

Nico waved off the Pakistani man's protests. It was around twenty-five US Dollars worth of currency, and that much money was nothing to Nico.

"It's not like I earned it anyways," he said, ignoring the other man's words as pulled on his backpack and walked to the door.

"Thank you!" Nico offered again as he exited the hotel.

"Thank you as well!" the concierge shouted as Nico left.

* * *

Nico made it to the bus in time, and much to his relief, he found it relatively empty. He took a seat by a window, before propping up his backpack by his side to block anyone else's view. He then pulled out his phone: a modestly-priced Motorola. It wasn't as packed full of features as the latest iPhone or Galaxy–what most would expect from the son of a hedge fund manager–but the phone had an absolutely massive battery, and generally lasted for weeks while powered down.

' _No Signal'_ Nico read as the phone powered on fully. He sighed and slipped it back into his backpack. He had purchased a Pakistani Sim Card for this trip, but things just weren't going his way today.

Nico sat back and closed his eyes. There was nothing he could do, so he might as well get some rest on the bus ride.

* * *

_[Integration Complete]_

Nico awoke abruptly, alarmed by the loud voice. He whipped his head around, searching for its source, but nothing stood out.

The bus was still sparsely occupied, and he didn't see any speakers that could have produced the digitized voice. Further, none of the nearby passengers had any electronic devices on them. A man, several rows ahead, was speaking into a cellphone that looked two decades out of date, but there was no way it could explain the voice that had spoken right into his ears.

' _What the hell is going on?_ ' Nico asked himself. He had grown increasingly agitated over the past several hours; nothing made sense anymore.

_[Scarab unit EX-12 has fully integrated with Host.]_

Nico spun around again.

"Alright, what the fuck?" he said harshly. A few of the nearby passengers gave him odd looks, but seemed intent on ignoring Nico in his unbalanced state.

' _It's almost like that voice was trying to answer my thoughts?'_ Nico speculated.

_[Correct, Scarab units process subvocalized commands from hosts.]_

Nico was able to keep himself more contained this time; he barely jumped from his seat at the voice's latest statement. He latched onto a particular word.

' _Scarab, that's a kind of beetle, right? Are you the beetle I found on the mountain?'_ he said mentally, hoping that he had correctly understood what 'subvocalization' meant.

_[Correct, Scarab unit EX-12 bonded with Host on the landform designated 'Muchu Chhish,' and initiated Jump Sequence.]_

Nico took a sharp breath as the voice spoke again. It was hard to get used to a voice speaking directly into one's mind. He assumed that the 'Jump Sequence' was how the beetle 'jumped' into his body, so he chose a new line of inquiry.

' _Are you the reason I can fly?'_ he asked. He had already theorized that the strange insect sculpture had something to do with his superhuman abilities.

_[Correct, all Scarab units are equipped with gravitational engines to improve Host mobility.]_

Nico unpacked the Scarab's statement over a few seconds.

' _How many other of these Scarab units are there?'_

_[Information restricted.]_

' _Why the hell is it restricted?'_

_[Host personality profile incomplete]_

' _That's not an explanation,'_ Nico retorted, but he had gleaned some useful information. The Scarab's words implied that the information would become available once the 'personality profile' was complete.

' _How long does it take to complete a personality profile?'_

_[Unknown. Varies based on host species.]_

Nico let out a long sigh.

' _Alright, can you at least tell me why you bonded to me?'_

_[Host was available.]_

The young mountaineer let out a small groan. The Scarab's answers were barely helpful and left him with even more questions.

' _Is there anything I have to do now?'_ he asked. There was always some 'mission' in the movies, and he was almost certainly living in one.

_[Information restricted.]_

' _Ah, naturally.'_

Nico took another deep breath to calm himself down.

' _Can you tell me what you can do?'_

_[Affirmative.]_

Nico waited a moment for the Scarab to continue, but no answer he came.

' _So… what can you do?'_ he prompted.

_[Current permissions allow for gravitational engine operation, basic manipulation of Host biology, basic manipulation of electronic systems.]_

' _Okay so, flying, I think? I'm guessing the second is why I feel stronger and don't tire out, but 'manipulation of electronic systems,' can you hack into stuff?'_

_[Correct]_

Nico took a moment to process everything.

' _Holy shit, I'm like a diet Superman, and with Dad's money I can basically be Batman too,'_ he thought with excitement.

He pulled out a few protein bars, and started drumming up different uses for his newfound powers as the bus ride continued. By the time he arrived at his stop, he was overflowing with ideas to test when he got back to New York

* * *

Nico's first stop, after getting off the bus, was a decently high-end restaurant near Gilgit Airport. He was normally fine going extended periods of time without food; at one point he had fasted for two weeks just to test his body, but right now he was unbelievably ravenous.

' _It must have something to do with the Scarab's biological manipulation,'_ Nico surmised.

_[Correct.]_

Nico couldn't help but startle at the unexpected response.

' _Are you just going to listen to everything I think?'_ he asked mentally.

_[This unit registers all subvocalizations.]_

Nico growled in frustration at the cryptic response.

' _It lets you fly, it's making you strong, and it can hack shit, get over it Nico,'_ he thought to himself. Thankfully, the Scarab didn't feel the need to answer.

Nico's food arrived shortly, pulling him away from any annoyance he felt towards the creature, and he quickly made his way through the _Thali_ : a plate composed of many curries, breads, and rice dishes. By the time he was finished, he had consumed enough food to feed three people, and he still wasn't completely full. He was satisfied, though, so after paying his bill he made for the Airport, hoping to catch an upcoming flight to Islamabad.

On his way, he stopped at a newsstand; his phone still didn't work, and he wanted to know if anything crazy had happened during his trip. Several oddities caught his eye.

For starters, the few dates that he could read were all off by several years.

' _April 21st, 2008,'_ they read.

The second anomaly was what stopped him short. Most of the newspapers displayed pictures of the same man; Robert Downey Jr. was a famous actor for sure, but in a small city in Pakistan, there was no reason for his face to be plastered over newspapers. One of the English newspapers offered an explanation, but it was one he couldn't believe.

Nico read the headline aloud in a whisper to himself.

"Billionaire Arms Dealer Tony Stark Missing after Raid on Convoy."

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't get this out of my head, and here we are…
> 
> For anyone worried about A Price for Peace, this isn't replacing it! The next chapter is on the way, I just hit a bit of writer's block, and life was too busy for me to knuckle down and power through.
> 
> I decided to just write what was in my head, and this is what we got. I'll probably switch off each chapter to keep the creative juices flowing.


End file.
